Improvement in fare-boxes



Fare-Boxes.

Patented Jluly 28,*1874.

WITNESSES.

Puma, Ny.

THE GRAHHC co.PHoYD-L PATENT OFFICE.

ABNER oGooDELL, IJR.,'0F SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS.

"IMPROVEMENT iN FARE-Boxes.

` Specification forming part'ofL'etters PatentNo. 153,480, dated July 28,1874; application filed May 19, 1874,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ABNER C. GooDELL, J r.,

`of Salem, Essex county, Massachusetts, have invented certain'Improvements in FareBoXes for Land Gonveyances, of which the following is a specification:

Heretofore, in the construction of fare-boxes for railway-cars, omnibuses, and other land,`

others that accumulate until removed by the proper person.

In the practical operation of boxes 'of this character several objections have manifested themselves, which my present improvements are designed to overcome. For instance, if a number of fares are deposited in the upper compartment at one time, it is difficult, and at times impossible, for the driver to ascertain with certainty the 'exact amount paid, and it has often occurred that a number of persons dishonestly inclined enter a car or omnibus together and deposit their fares in a t mass, omitting one or two. vIt being impossible for the driver to distinguish each fare,

and having no control over the interior ofv the boX, he is compelled to take the risk of beingcheated.

In carrying my invention into practice, in one form among several in which it may be embodied, I employ an upright cylinder, preferably entirely of glass, and I dispose within this cylinder one or more concavous or recessed disks, `mounted in a suitable manner upon a shaft, or otherwise pivoted upon an axis, in such manner as to revolve slowly in a horizontal plane, the bottom of these disks being formed with several'apertures of sufficient size to allow a fare or several fares to 1 pass through them, the apertures being covered by tilting or rotating vanes or their equivalents, so constructed and applied to the disk, and operating with the same and a se- `of the cylinder are removed.

ries of fixed studs or their equivalents, that, as the disk rotates, the vanes automatically open and close the apertures in regular succession without aid from the driverthe fares being deposited upon the disk at such a period of time in advance of the opening of the vane upon which it rests as to be inspected by the driver and passengers before falling to the bottom of the cylinder.

The drawings accompanying this specification represent, in Figure l, a vertical section of a fare-box constructed in accordance with the requirements of my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are horizontal sections of the same. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the lower or distributing disk. Fig. 5 is a plan of the de vices for operating the vanes of the upper disk, Fig. 6 being a Side elevation of the same.

In these drawings, A represents. an upright cylindrical structure, composed of glass and open at bottom, such bottom opening being closed by a door, and being the place where the fares which accumulate in the lower part The upper part of the cylinder A terminates in a globular top 'or dome, F, in one side of which an oriiice,

H, is created, through which the fares of pasv sengers are inserted. Within the upper part of the dome F are placed two sloping plates 'or deflectors, I and J, 011e of which, viz., I, is

placed below and in horizontal parallelism with the longest plane of the oriiicc H, and so as to present a line at right angles, or nearly so, to the other plate, J, which is disposed in like manner upon the opposite side of the dome, and with its lower edge somewhat below that of the former, a narrow throat, K, intervening between the two, and the whole being so arranged that a fare, whether a ticket or piece of money, being in- Sei-ted through the throat and dropped upon the plate I, slides down the latter until it reaches the opposite plate J, by which it is deflected through and upon a rotary disk placed below it.

This arrangement of the plates I and J is shown and vexplained in an application for a patentheretofore filed by myself, and requires no further explanation as to their character or uses; but I desire to say that I contemplate, under some circumstances, making them concave or trough-shaped to some extent, the better to deflect the fares toward the center of the disk below.

In order to retain or suspend a fare within the cylinderAfora short space of time, or one sutliciently long to enable the driver and the passengers, if they are so disposed, to ascertain that a fare has been paid by any person or persons, I dispose within the'upper part of the dome F a horizontal rotary disk or changeable table, E, composed of an annular circumscribing band, L, and a series of radial arms, s s, Suc., and a series ofvanes, to be hereinafter explained, the disk being of a diameter considerably less thann that of thebore of the cylinder,`and being mounted upon an upright shaft, N, placed axially within said cylinder, or otherwise pivoted within the latter in such manner as to rotate freely upon its axis. The upper support' of the shaft N is, in the present instance, a horizontal open frame, O, which is afxed'within the. dome immediately belouT the disk E. The vsize or diameter of the disk E bears no close relation to that of the bore of the cylinder, as the only requisite in this respect is to provide a disk of suiicient size to receive fares and prevent them from dropping between it and the cylinder. Within the band L I dispose a series of horizontal sectoral vanes, a a, Sto., pivoted centrally at their outer ends to the band, and at their inner ends to the hub of such band, in order that they may rotate upon their axes, and, when disposed in a ooinmon horizontalplane, present an unbroken surface, which entirely covers the area bounded by the band L, and prevents escape `of faresl through the disk or table, and, when in a vertical position, which they assume, one after the other, in regular succession, create an opening through which a fare or several fares fall to the lower part of the cylinder. Theband L of the disk or table E rises to some distance above the axes of the vanes, in order to constitute an annular wall to seize and retain the fares as they are pushed through the orifice, and fallupon the vanes, as but for the presence of this iiielosing wall many fares might drop between the disk and cylinder unnoticed by the driver. The disk may be of larger diameter and en' tirely cover the area ofthe cylinder; but there are many objections `to this, and one object I have sought to attain is to obviate these objections by such a construction of parts as enables nie to use a disk of any size and avoid the dividing ofthe cylinder into two chambers by a tight partition, as heretofore practiced. By my arrangement of the disk E and the plates I and J, fares are detlected upon the former with certainty, and the use of the plates I and J would permit me to dispense with the extra height of the band L. I decidedly prefer, however, to employ it. In order to compel these vanes to remain in a horizontal position until the turn of each comes to tilt into a vertical position, I dispose below themaconcentric annular ledge, Q, which is supported upon the frame O before named, a small portion of this ledge Q being cut away, as shown at S, to create a notch, which allows each vane as it reaches it to tilt and make a quarter-revolution on its axis.

YTo tilt the vanes a from a horizontal to a veri tical position, I apply to the outer extremity of the outer pivot or journal of each a bar or tripper, T, and 'I erect upon the frame R a-post, V, so disposed, in advance ot' the notch of the ledge Q, that as each approaching tripper abuts against it such tripper is` compelled to describe a quarter-revolution and assume an upright position, and, in so doing, effect alike movement of .the vane and precipitate from the latter to the bottoni of the cylinder any fare or fares which may be at the time upon it, the width and depth of others, having been reversed in the act. TheledgeQ is sufficiently close to theunder side` of the vanes to prevent them from leaving a horizontal position until they reach in suc` `cession the notch S. It will thus be seen that each `vane in succession, as it `passes the post V and notch S, is reversed in position upon its axis, and afterward, and while mov ing uponand retained in a horizontal position lby the ledge Q, travels `with theothers through a circular path, the' ledge Q also serving to prevent any depression or turning of the vanes by pressure from above. TheV post V is situated, preferably, opposite the. orifice H; consequently, when a passenger passes a fare through such orifice, and de-4 posits it upon the traveling disk or table E, it remains upon this table until such table hasll traveled through a-half-circle, thus affording. `ample time for the driver and passengers to,v

inspect it.

One important advantage of the above-de-` scribed rotating table or disk withits change.

able bottom is seen in the fact that as so'on as one fare has been paid and dropped upon such bottom, this fare immediately travels along.`

and out of the way of another which may be paid immediately after it, and as each fare be fore it can again reach the payingorifice is precipitated through the table, no undue accumulation of fares can take place, and the driver is enabled to distinguish each individu all One.

thelower part of the cylinder A, and to distribute equally over the door of the latter such fares as may accumulate, I make use of a second revolving disk or table, W, mounted upon the shaft N. and having a series of vanes, X X, Ste., pivoted within it, these vanes be- In order to provide all possible security against dishonest abstraction of fares from ing so arranged as to open at various points during the revolution of the wheel W, and allow fares to drop from them into the lower part of the cylinder or receiver A.

In order to reverse the position of each vane X X, I afiix vto the outer end of the pivot of each a star trip-wheel, b, and I erect upon an annular frame, c, disposed below the vanes a series of upright pins, el d, Snc., placed in pairs, and each pair situated at such a distance that each wheel that coincides with them is tilted by abutting against the first into an upright position to the extent of ninety degrees of a circle, and by the secondV a like distance to the extent of one hundred and eighty degrees of a circle, thus precipitating into the lower part of the cylinder A, and scattering equally over its surface or floor, such fare or fares as may v have fallen upon it from the vane below.

As I desire the vanes X X to reverse at different points in the revolution of the band which supports them, I place the trip-wheels of one pair of vanes at a greater distancefrom the periphery of the band than those of another pair, and I likewise disposethe pairs of pins in such manner that one pair coincides with one pair of wheels, and another pair with another pair of wheels, and by this means distribute equally over the Hoor of the cylinder or receiver A B the fares dropped upon the vanes.l

Various mechanical expedients other than those herein shown may be employed for effecting alternating' reverses of the vanes; but I have adopted the tripper 'l and starwhee1 Z), as presenting one practical method by which these reverses may be brought about.

To obtain the requisite lpower for rotating the changeable floors, any suitable mechanism maybe employed-a clock-movement, for instanceand I propose in some instances to apply the power of the" car-axles to operate them by means of a suitable intermediate device.

I do not confine myself to the use of the upright shaft as a means of rotating the disks or tables, as a toothed rack may be applied to the periphery of either, and apinion mounted upon a shaft engage such rack; nor do I confine myself to the precise mode herein explained of arranging and operating the vanes of the rotary disks, as it is evident that various modiiications may be made in this respect without departing from the main feature of my present invention, which embraces the construction and adaptation of a revolvingtable, whereby it opens at stated times, and to a greater or less extent, to allow of passage of fares through it.

The use of my invention lessens to a certain extent the labor of the drivers of horse-cars or omnibuses, as the final depositing Aof theA .fare is effected automatically by the rotation of the revolving table, and not, as at present, by the adjustment of a trap by hand, and the cash and tickets being thereby surely deposited below by a regular movement, ,the difficulty is avoided which sometimes happens in the counting of fares when they are allowed to accumulate by the negligence of the driver or otherwise.

If considered desirable, a stop-motion may be combined with the upper rotary table, by means vof which the driver is enabled to stop the rotation of such table should he desire more time in which to inspect the fares than the movement of said table affords.

I claiml. The rot-ary band or wheel and series of tilting wings or doors, in combination Vwith the ledge Q and tripper T and post V, substantially as shown and'set forth.

2. The rotating distributing-wheel WV, locatedin the lower/part of the fare-box below the tare-receiving table, .and provided V'with tilting wings or doors, operated aty the times v and in the lnanner speciiied, to ,distributev evenly over the bottom of the fare-,box the J fares dropped from the fare-receivin g table. K

3. In a farebox, a continuously-rotating power-driven fare-receiving table, whose farereceiving surface is made up Yof varies or doors automatically operated to alternately open and close during the movement of thetable, substantially as herein shown yand set forth.

4. A ledge, Q, serving to hold the door in a horizontal position, and to prevent the turning of the doors by outside pressure, substantially as and for the purposes sta-ted. Y

ABNER C. GOODELL, JIL

Witnesses :v

C. E. ALLEN, W. E. BOARDMAN. 

